Asma Jahangir calls for probe into plot to kill her

Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir has demanded that the Pakistan government investigate a report in a leading US newspaper that military and intelligence leaders in her country had plotted to kill her.

Jahangir demanded that the government take notice of the news in the Washington Post and find out the forces that wanted to silence her, the Dawn quoted her as saying in a statement issued Wednesday.

The Post had published a report that cited classified documents given by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden which revealed a plot by Pakistani officers to kill Jahangir.

"In May 2012, US intelligence agencies discovered evidence of Pakistani officers plotting to 'eliminate' a prominent human rights activist, Asma Jahangir," the Post said citing the summary of a top secret Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) report.

The DIA report did not identify which officers were plotting to kill Jahangir, who had been a leading critic of the ISI for years, the Post said.

But it said the plan "included either tasking militants to kill her in India or tasking militants or criminals to kill her in Pakistan".

The US agency said it did not know whether Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had given approval for the plot to proceed.

In her statement Wednesday, Jahangir said that she already knew about the plot from her well-wishers and she had revealed the same in a press conference some months back.

A former Supreme Court Bar Association president, Jahangir said she would keep fighting for democracy and protection of human rights in her country and her voice could not be silenced.